The present invention relates to Ventilating systems for protecting dental practitioners from contaminants, including harmful aerosols, blood and other substances created during dental procedures and the like emanated by patients and, in particular, an apparatus for producing a vacuum barrier to protect dental practitioners from air borne contaminants released during dental procedures.
The medical and dental communities have long recognized the need to shield practitioners from harmful substances, such as: noxious gases, infected body fluids, tissue debris and bone chips that are produced in medical and dental procedures. Many previous systems have been designed to draw a vacuum in order to remove harmful substances emanating from a patient (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,447 of Gauthier). Although the prior art systems provide dental practitioners with some protection, the recent Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has produced the need for providing greater protection for health care workers. The present technology is inadequate for this purpose.
In particular, dental procedures such as drilling, cutting with a reciprocating saw or the like which are common procedures for dentists and oral surgeons produce an aerosol of human tissue that becomes suspended in the air around the site of the operation and which may contain AIDS virus, if the patient is infected. Such aerosols often include powdered bone or blood, both of which carry the AIDS producing virus, if the patient is infected. Such aerosols can come into contact with mucus membranes of personnel in the operating field and may infect such personnel with the AIDS producing virus or other infectious diseases.
At the time of filing of the present application, it is estimated that AIDS has already claimed over 100,000 lives in the United States and an estimated 1.5 million Americans have become infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus which is transmitted through body fluids has been isolated in blood, semen, saliva, tears, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, cervical secretions, breast milk, bone and other tissues. There are reported cases of HIV infections acquired by health care workers through direct percutaneous exposure to HIV infected body fluids or particles.
To shield health care workers from the AIDS virus, special precautions in the use of surgical and dental equipment should be taken. As was noted above, use of dental equipment often results in the release of AIDS or otherwise infected material from a patient into aerosols in the surrounding air.
This is especially true with the use of medical drills, routers and saws, which produce in the surrounding area a fine aerosol of fluids, tissue and bone chips, or may even cause a stream of blood to spurt into the air. Aerosolization of the AIDS virus may occur during the use of surgical power instruments. Such airborne viruses float around the operating room and may encounter and invade a dental practitioner in the room.
In light of the deadliness of the AIDS virus and the need to remove virtually all of the virus-carrying aerosol produced in a dental procedure, present systems are inadequate. Conventional barriers, whether physical or vacuum-producing, that are situated away from the operating site, either limit visibility and/or mobility or expose the operator to the possibly infected aerosol. When using surgical and dental equipment, a dental practitioner must often work between the vacuum source or physical barrier and the mouth of the patient, thus exposing the practitioner to infection. The barrier may also restrict the practitioner's view or movement of the tool.
Point of operation protection is needed without significant loss of mobility and/or visibility. Vacuum barriers placed directly into the patient's mouth are not well suited for drawing in airborne contaminants, and may impair access to the operating site for some dental procedures. Vacuum barriers positioned on the instrument itself typically limit the area of protection however, a vacuum barrier placed near the point of operation without unduly restricting mobility and/or visibility is possible.